Website Photos for Small Studios: A Shot List
Most studio websites have plenty of photos. Very few show what a first-timer is actually looking for: the way in, and the person who will be teaching them.
You don't need a photographer for that. A phone and a quiet morning will do. Here is the list.
What the photos are for
Someone deciding whether to book is trying to picture their first visit. Where they go in. Whether the class looks like people like them. Each photo should answer one of those questions, quietly.
A beautiful shot that answers nothing is decoration. Keep a few. Don't build the page on them.
The shot list
Outside
The entrance from the street. Taken from where a new client would stand. Include the sign or door number if there is one. This is the photo that saves a phone call.
The way in. The lift, the stairs, the corridor, whatever sits between the street and the desk. Especially useful if you're on an upper floor.
Inside
The room, empty. One wide shot in daylight, from a corner. Equipment lined up, floor clear. This is the anchor image for the whole site.
The room, in use. A real class, shot from the back or the side. Faces turned away is fine. Mid-movement beats posed.
The desk or welcome area. Where someone checks in, takes off their shoes and waits. It tells people there is somewhere to stand.
Changing room and showers, if you have them. Clean, lit, nothing left on the bench. People ask about this more than you would think.
People
Each instructor, on their own. Natural light, plain background, looking at the camera. The same setup for everyone, so the team page looks like a team.
An instructor at work. A hands-on cue, a spring being adjusted, a quiet word with a client. This one sells a class better than any description of it.
A small group moment. Two or three people before or after class. Laughing is fine. Holding a pose for the camera, less so.
Details
The equipment, up close. Springs, straps, the mat stack, the weights rack. Useful for section backgrounds and the odd social post.
That is ten photos. Most studios could take them before the first class of the day.
Phone tips
Wipe the lens first. It sounds obvious. It fixes more photos than any setting.
Shoot in daylight, with the lights you normally use switched on as well. Turn off anything that flickers or glows an odd colour.
Don't zoom. Walk closer. Keep the wide lens for the empty room, and hold the phone level so the walls stay straight.
Take each shot twice: once landscape for the desktop site, once portrait for mobile and social. Websites crop differently on a phone, so leave some space around the subject.
Take more than you need. Choose later, on a bigger screen.
Permission
Ask before you photograph anyone, and get it in writing if the photo is going on your website. A short consent line on a sign-in sheet or a simple form is usually enough, but check what applies where you are. Anyone who would rather not be in a photo should be able to say so without explaining why.
Where they go
The entrance and the empty room belong on the first-visit or intro offer page. Instructor portraits go on the team page, with the at-work shots close by. The class in use works at the top of the homepage, where a stock image usually sits.
Resize and compress before uploading. A photo straight off a phone can run to several megabytes, and a slow page loses people before they see it.
Then retake the set once a year, or whenever the room changes. Old photos have a habit of showing a studio that no longer quite exists.
For a wider look at the rest of your site, our 10-minute website check covers the basics.
If you'd rather we looked
Our free website check comes back with three specific fixes within two business days. If better photos are one of them, the Site Tune-Up ($350) puts them in the right places, along with the other two fixes.
